Quilting machine of the shiftable guide-track type



Feb. 11, 1969 D. R. CASH' 3,426,710

QUILTING MACHINE OF THE SHIFTABLE GUIDE-TRACK TYPE Filed Jan. 26, 1967 UP PE R CARRIAGE 8 I4 ..20 a 37 w j A 350 g s l5"! 8 h I 25 Q so 29 2a 26' L40 (Q1 1; [/1 I\ k 91'': 7 6 Y 280 29: F|G.3 6 GUIDE TRACK I4 I20 5 x 30 r n JPPER CARRIAGE 29 280% h hsou 38 LOWER CARRIAGE [6 7v FIG 4 INVENTOR, 35 DAVID R. CASH HIS ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 11, 1969 3,426,710 QUILTING MACHINE OF THE SHIFTABLE GUIDE-TRACK TYPE David R. Cash, Louisville, Ky., assignor to James Cash Machine Co., Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Jan. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 611,922 US. Cl. 1121l8 4 Claims Int. Cl. D05b 11/00; D23'c 1/16 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to a quilting machine of the type wherein a frame-mounted follower drives a carriagemounted guide-track, which may be shifted from one position on the carriage to another for offset design reproduction purposes.

Description of the prior art Where a single needle sewing machine is used on a quilting machine to sew a single reproduction of a given sewing line design into a quilt, it has been proposed to provide that sewing machine with one or two auxiliary sewing needles for sewing one or two offset reproductions of the same sewing line design into the same quilt at the same time. Here the regular sewing needle is used at one time for sewing a single reproduction of one design into a run of heavy quilts, the two auxiliary needles are used at another time for sewing two offset reproductions of the same design into a run of lighter quilts and all three needles are used at still other times for sewing three offset reproductions of the same design into runs of still lighter quilts. However, the appearance of quilts having single, double and triple reproductions of the same sewing line design, are quite different.

Again, it has been proposed to provide the quilting machine with a manually shiftable guide track and manually manipulatable securing means for holding the guidetrack rigidly on the carriage in one position for sewing one design. After the sewing operation, the securing means is manually disconnected from the carriage so that the guide-track may be manually shifted to (and then secured in) an offset position for sewing an identical but offset reproduction of the same design into the same quilt. In some cases, another shift is made to another offset position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects of the invention The principal object of the present invention is to provide means for easily and quickly shifting the position of the guide-track to the end of reducing the length of the dwell period between successive sewing operations, and correspondingly increasing the capacity of the machine.

Another object is to provide a shifting means which is simple and inexpensive to make, install and operate, and which is rugged in operation so as to have little maintenance and long life.

Statem nt of the invention The objects of my invention are achieved by providing a guide-track which is slidably mounted on the carriage, with a motorized shifting means, which is operative to hold the guide-track in each of its different operating positions for each of its different sewing operations, and which may be easily and quickly operated, during the dwell period between successive sewing operations, to effect the shift from one position to another. With this arrangement, there is no need for disconnecting the guidetrack from and reconnecting it to the carriage; hence, the time and labor required by those operations are completely eliminated. Furthermore, the shifting operation can be performed not only more rapidly than before but also with greater precision and less labor.

More particularly, the objects are achieved by rigidly mounting the track-shifting motor on the carriage and interconnecting the shaft of that motor with the shiftable guide-track through a crank arm so that the carriage can be shifted successively from one position to one or more other positions within the range of crank arm movement. Needless to say, a shiftable mechanism of this character may be simply, inexpensively and quickly constructed, easily installed and easily operated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic perspective view of a quilting machine of the follower-driven, carriage-mounted guide-track type, which embodies my presently preferred form of track shifting mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the shifting mechanism of FIG. 1 in one of its extreme positions;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view, partly in section of the structure shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of the structure shown in FIGS. 2-3 after the shifting mechanism crank arm has been moved from its FIG. 3 position; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the control circuit for effecting the operation of the shifting mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF A CONVENTIONAL QUILTING MACHINE STRUCTURE The quilting machine shown in FIG. 1 on floor 1 conventionally comprises: a metal frame composed of side standards 2 and cross base and head frames 3 and 4; a pair of frame-mounted sewing machines, each including a needle-operated mechanism or sewing head 5 mounted on the cross head frame 4 and a cooperating thread-locking mechanism (not shown) mounted on the cross base frame 3; frame-mounted carriage means including a lower carriage 6 mounted on floor 1 for longitudinal movement along suitable floor-supported tracks 7 and an upper carriage 8 mounted on lower carriage 6 for transverse track-guided movement at right angles to the tracks 7; a carriage-mounted quilt 10; a frame-mounted follower 12; a carriage-mounted guide-track unit composed of a guidetrack 14 rigidly secured to a track-supporting plate 15 and engaged by a drive gear wheel on the follower 12; means mounting the guide-track unit on the upper carriage 8 for slidable shifting movement, said mounting means includig a pair of guides 16 rigidly mounted on the front and rear end portions of the top carriage 8 to extend transversely in position to receive and guide the front and rear ends of the track-supporting plate 15; and means for controlling the operation of the quilting machine, said control means including a drive motor 18 mounted within a side standard 2 and suitably connected for rotating the drive gear wheel of the follower 12 (to move the carriage-supported quilt in accordance with the guide-track design) and for operating the sewing machine, a start button 19 mounted on one of the side standards 2 and a stop member 20 mounted on the guide-track supporting plate 15 in position to operate a frame-mounted stop switch (not shown), at the end of each sewing operation. Preferably, the front and rear ends of the guidetrack supporting plate 15 are provided with guide-engaging wheels to facilitate shifting movement.

In conventional operation, the start button 19 is operated to institute the sewing cycle by energizing the motor 18 and thereby operating both the frame-mounted follower 12 and the frame-mounted sewing maching. The follower drives the carriage-mounted guide-track 14 in a manner such as to move carriage-mounted quilt along a path reproducing a desired sewing line design. The energized sewing machine operates contemporaneously with the follower to sew the reproduced design into the quilt. At the end of the first sewing cycle, the stop member 20, on the guide-track supporting plate 15, engages a stop switch (not shown) on the base frame 3, to shut the machine down. The relative position, of the guide track 14 on the upper carriage 8, is now shifted in accordance with the present invention so that an identical offset reproduction of the same sewing line design may be sewn into the same quilt during the next sewing cycle.

DESCRIPTION OF TI-IE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embodiment comprises: a motorized shift means operative, when actuated, to shift the position of the guide-track on the upper carriage; and means for actuating the shift means.

Motorized track-shifting means The motorized track-shifting means comprises: an electric shifting motor 24 rigidly mounted on the upper carriage 8 in spaced relationship to one side edge of the guide-track supporting plate and means using the rotary motion of the shaft of shifting motor 24 to effect the linear slidable shifting movement of the guide-track unit. This motion converting means is in the form of a crank connecting the rotary shaft of motor 24 to the horizontally shiftable guide-track supporting plate 15. The crank comprises: a radial crank arm 25, which is rotated by motor 24; and a rod 26 of adjustable length connecting the crank arm 25 to the guide-track supporting plate 15. The throw of the crank arm 25 may be varied by varying the location of the point at which that arm is connected to rod 26.

With crank arm throw and a rod length of the order illustrated, it will be appreciated that one given rotation of the crank arm 25 by motor 24 will tend to slide the guide-track unit (through its supporting plate 15) back-and-forth along the top carriage 8 through one reciprocation. However, the follower 12, through its driving wheel engagement with the guide-track 14, prevents any such movement of the guide-track unit. As a consequence, the guide-track unit (and the guide-track end of the rod 26) will remain stationary when the shift motor 24 is energized whereas the shift motor 24 and the top carriage 8 will both slide (as a fixed unit) relative to the stationary guide-track unit on the one hand and to the lower carriage 6 on the other.

During a 180 shift, the top carriage 8 will move, relative to the adjacent side edge of the guide-track supporting plate 15, from one extreme position 28 to another exn'eme position 30 during which it will pass through an interposed position 29. During that same 180 movement, the top carriage 8 will move, relative to the lower carriage 6, from one extreme position 28a through interposed position 29a to the other extreme position 30a.

Actuating means The actuating means comprises: a N/O (normally open) shifting motor circuit extending from one power line through shifting motor 24 and N/O switch contacts 34m of relay 34 to the other power line; a N/O relay circuit extending from said one power line through N/C (normally closed) shut down switch 35, which has an operating arm 35a, relay coil 34c and N/O relay contacts 34h of relay 34; and a normally open pushbutton start switch 36 which bypasses the relay contacts 34h and which is operative, when momentarily closed, to energize the relay circuit and its relay coil 34c and thereby not only close relay motor contacts 34m (to energize the motor circuit and its shifting motor 24) but also close relay holding contacts 34h to maintain the relay and motor circuits both closed and energized.

As the shaft of energized motor 24 rotates the crank arm 25, it also rotates an annular indexing collar 37. The periphery of indexing collar 37 is provided with a series of switch-operating members 38, 39 (39') and 40 for stopping the shifting means at positions corresponding to positions 28, 29 and 30. Accordingly, the operating arm 35a of shutdown switch 35 is located adjacent collar 39 and within the rotational path of the members 38-40. Consequently, arm 35a is operated by members 38-40 at intervals of collar rotation as members 38-40 successively pass operating arm 35a. When the shifting carriage 8 reaches a given one of its 28-30 positions, the corresponding one of members 38-40 will reach a corresponding position in which it becomes effective to move operating arm 35a sufficiently to open the shutdown switch 35 to de-energize relay coil 34c and thereby stop shifting motor 24.

In operation, with the parts positioned as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, we can assume: that a quilting machine has reached the end of a sewing cycle; and that stop member 20 has shut down the quilting machine. The operator now presses and closes pushbutton 36 to institute the shifting operation. This closure energizes the relay coil 34c which closes the shifting motor circuit to energize shifting motor 24 and which also closes the relay holding circuit to keep the shifting motor energized. As a consequence, the upper carriage 8 begins to shift underneath the stationary guide-track unit in a direction proceeding from position 28 toward position 29 relative to the guidetrack unit and from position 28a toward position 29a relative to the underlying carriage 6.

As the carriage 8 leaves position 28 (28a), the member 38 moves away from the operating arm 35a of shutdown switch 35. As the carriage 8 approaches position 29, 29a, the member 39 correspondingly approaches arm 35a. Ultimately member 39 operates arm 35a sufiiciently to open the shutdown switch 35 and thereby de-energize all of the actuating means circuits. The momentum of the rotating parts, however, will carry member 39 sufficiently past operating arm 35a to permit the shutdown switch 35 to be moved to its normally closed position by its biasing spring.

With the guide-track unit now located upon top carriage 8 at shifted position 29 (29a), the quilting machine may be operated through a 2nd sewing cycle. At the end of the 2nd cycle, the foregoing shifting operation may be repeated to shift to position 30 (30a), for a 3rd sewing cycle. Now, the sewn quilt 10 can be removed from the quilting machine and replaced by an unsewn quilt. The latter can then be sewn at position 30, shifted to position 29 where it is stopped through member 39', sewn a 2nd time and then shifted to and sewn in position 28.

Where the design is to be repeated only twice, it will be appreciated that the sewing operation may take place at positions 28 and 29 or at 28 and 30. Furthermore, if the spacing between design reproductions is to be changed, this can be done by correspondingly changing either the throw of the crank arm or the location of the members 3840 on collar 37 or the number of members corresponding to members 38-40.

As a safety feature, the circuits of the electric motors 18 and 24 may be interconnected. Thus, the circuit of relay coil 34c could have a normally open switch, which is closed only when the quilting machine drive motor 18 is de-energized so as to prevent the institution of the shifting operation during a sewing operation. Similarly, the circuit of the quilting machine drive motor 18 could have a normally open switch, which is closed only when the shifting motor 24 is de-energized so as to prevent the institution of a sewing operation during a shifting op eration.

One important advantage of the invention is that it can be used as a heavy duty quilting machine to sew the thicker quilt assemblies with two or more offset designs.

The conventional structure of the present machine may be identical to that shown in my US. Patent No. 3,127,- 858, granted Apr. 7, 1964.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A quilting machine of the shiftable guide-track type, including a frame, frame-mounted follower and sewing machine, a carriage and carriage-mounted guide-track, wherein the follower drives the guide-track to move the carriage along a path reproducing a desired sewing line design while the sewing machine sews that design into a carriage-mounted quilt, characterized by:

(A) means mounting the guide-track on the carriage for guided shifting movement from one position on the carriage for one sewing operation to another position on the carriage for an offset sewing operation;

(B) motorized shifting means operative, when actuated, to shift the guide-track from one position to another; and

(C) means for actuating said motorized shifting means.

2. The machine of claim' 1 wherein:

(A) said motorized shifting means includes (1) a shifting motor mounted on the carriage for movement therewith, and

(2) a crank interconnecting the shaft of the motor and the guide-track.

3. The machine of claim 2 wherein:

(A) the follower holds the guide-track and the guidetrack and of the crank stationary during the shifting movement while said shifting motor and said carriage shift relative thereto.

4. The machine of claim 1 wherein said actuating means includes:

(A) a normally closed switch operative, when opened, to render the motorized shifting means inoperative;

(B) a pair of switch operating members corresponding to said one and said other position of the guidetrack on the carriage;

(C) means mounting one switch-operating member in position to open said normally closed switch when said guide-track reaches said one position; and

(D) means mounting said other switch-operating memher in position to open said normally closed switch when said guide-track reaches said other position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS .2,152.,819 4/1939 Rothchild 112-118 2,236,421 3/1941 Boettcher 112118 2,501,239 3/1950 Schwartz 1l2 118 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

